Comments on: From Kennedy to Obama: Liberalism’s Last Flinghttp://dissidentvoice.org/2008/05/from-kennedy-to-obama-liberalism%e2%80%99s-last-fling/
a radical newsletter in the struggle for peace and social justiceSat, 27 Sep 2014 17:28:19 +0000hourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=4.2.3By: Don Hawkinshttp://dissidentvoice.org/2008/05/from-kennedy-to-obama-liberalism%e2%80%99s-last-fling/#comment-21539
Mon, 02 Jun 2008 14:13:49 +0000http://www.dissidentvoice.org/?p=2100#comment-21539For those of you that care read this as it will give you knowledge to help you in the coming years.http://www.climatescience.gov/Library/sap/sap4-3/final-report/default.htm
]]>By: Don Hawkinshttp://dissidentvoice.org/2008/05/from-kennedy-to-obama-liberalism%e2%80%99s-last-fling/#comment-21523
Sun, 01 Jun 2008 17:46:21 +0000http://www.dissidentvoice.org/?p=2100#comment-21523Let’s pretend for a few minutes. Make believe that on CNN we see the IPCC report and James Hansen explain what is happening to this planet and we hear from Steven Hawking on the subject and then we hear about peak oil and what is on the way then we see details this very second on the temperature anomalies on the top of the World then we see what drought and flooding is doing to crops Worldwide then what is happening to our oceans and the fish. Then we see a look into the future of only two years that show’s more of the same. Remember make believe so all this information we saw in only minutes. Then of course CNN goes to commercial from our friendly oil gas and coal people. It’s a new one when the public better known as Joe public is asked how many of you out there have your pension fund or your retirement or investments in oil gas and coal because by 2030 we will need a lot more. Yes one reason why is make believe.

Oh what a tangled web we weave
When first we practice to deceive.

]]>By: Don Hawkinshttp://dissidentvoice.org/2008/05/from-kennedy-to-obama-liberalism%e2%80%99s-last-fling/#comment-21513
Sun, 01 Jun 2008 15:03:31 +0000http://www.dissidentvoice.org/?p=2100#comment-21513Well we go ahead and use oil and more coal in the future as the push is on all in the name of the easy way out and progress the American way of life. Just on the off chance we are destroying the planet so be it right and the reason is why?
]]>By: Parker Meadhttp://dissidentvoice.org/2008/05/from-kennedy-to-obama-liberalism%e2%80%99s-last-fling/#comment-21504
Sun, 01 Jun 2008 02:05:19 +0000http://www.dissidentvoice.org/?p=2100#comment-21504I am an American. I live in China. There is no “democracy” here.
People do not “vote” for their leaders. So my question is why do all of the “elected” leaders of the so called Western democracies support America’s “Global War on Terror” and willingly send their people off to Iraq and Afghanistan to kill and die when poll after poll show that the people of their respective countries overwhelmingly oppose these wars of aggression and occupation?
The Chinese love their country and support their “unelected” leaders. Witness the response to the recent earthquake. The president and prime minister are out in their shirt sleeves with the people helping the relief efforts. I’m reminded of the picture of Bush looking out of his airplane window at the Katrina disaster.
So maybe the people of the world don’t really need or want America’s “Freedom and Democracy” McCain or Obama? Same Same!
]]>By: Mark Konradhttp://dissidentvoice.org/2008/05/from-kennedy-to-obama-liberalism%e2%80%99s-last-fling/#comment-21495
Sat, 31 May 2008 22:53:29 +0000http://www.dissidentvoice.org/?p=2100#comment-21495U.S. politicians and much of the public don’t get it yet.

America is not the only game in town anymore. State of the art technology, manufactured products and military equipment are available on the open market from nations other than the USA. America has become an economic zone, a duty free shop like you see at the airport. We’re the globalists’ bazaar or flea market, with 300 million slack-jawed consumers. We’re not particularly important to most nations of the world except in the sense that we buy a lot of natural resources (petroleum) and manufactured goods from the rest of the world. We provide very little in return except a falling-in-value dollar. Our domestic technology and engineering skills are equalled or surpassed by a number of countries who do not demand fealty to their political positions as the U.S. government does. The American elites still delude themselves with the idea that the rest of the world finds America indispensable and necessary. Thus those elites believe we can threaten and even attempt to force the submission of the world’s nations to the whims of the U.S. government through our military power. But it’s not possible. Swift’s Gulliver in Lilliput is a perfect metaphor for the United States in 2008. The smaller nations of the world are collectively much stronger than the United States, especially since the United States is dependent upon those smaller countries for energy resources (petroleum). Unfortunately American politicians don’t want to admit that and what it’s going to take to teach America some humility, humanity and introspection is a “Bridge too Far” scenario. America will eventually initiate yet another war it can’t fight then subsequently get its teeth kicked in on a foreign battlefield or several foreign battlefields simultaneously. Hopefully that does not result in the utter destruction of the United States. The scenario will be a humiliating and unquestionable defeat somewhere in the world that could clearly be much worse if America does not openly admit it’s beaten then retreat like a whipped dog. After that America must turn its attention inward, completely reject its self-appointed role of global-cop and understand it had better repair its own house first as well as learn to play well with others. Or perish. That of course includes ridding ourselves of our sixty year old tapeworm, israel.

P.S. Some interesting energy stats:

The United States burns approximately 21 million barrels of oil per day. That amounts to approximately 7.5 BILLION barrels of per year. (1)

60% of that, or approximately 4 Billion barrels per year is imported from outside the country. (2)

The most optimistic estimate of the ANWR reserves in Alaska is 36 Billion barrels. That entire reserve would replace our imports for nine years. To emphasise that — there’s only enough oil in Alaska to replace what we currently IMPORT for nine years. (3)

The Big Alaska Oil deposit that so many people cling to in their hopes and dreams is a fantasy. There isn’t enough oil in Alaska to matter. In comparison to what’s in Alaska the Bakken reserves in Montana and North Dakota are even punier. (4)

The USA is the third largest country in the world in terms of population and we’re the #1 nation in the world in oil imports. On the other hand Brazil is the fifth largest country in the world in terms of population but they’re #18 on the list of oil importers. (5)

WASHINGTON, Jan 29 (Reuters) – Oil and natural gas production at Alaska’s North Slope has been declining since 1988 but the region holds promise if energy prices stay high and Congress opens key areas to exploration, the U.S. Energy Department said in a report released on Tuesday.

Through 2050, the North Slope could yield up to 36 billion barrels of oil and 137 trillion cubic feet of natural gas under optimistic assumptions, the Energy Department said.

That would be enough to meet current U.S. oil demand for about five years and natural gas for a year and a half, but some major obstacles stand in the way of hitting those goals. (3)

– – – – – – – – – –

Bakken Formation oil field has up to 4.3 billion barrels
11 April 2008

A new federal study estimates the Bakken Formation in Montana and North Dakota contains from 3 billion to 4.3 billion barrels of recoverable oil, a figure 25 times greater than the 151 million barrels originally estimated in 1999.

The original estimate was based on traditional drilling techniques, but a new technique used by Billings wildcatter Dick Findley in 2000 has changed that. He drilled horizontally — fracturing the porous dolomite rock that holds the oil — to make the Elm Coulee field in northeastern Montana the biggest discovery in the continental United States and Canada.

“So this new estimate compensates for the change in technology that opened up the Elm Coulee field,” petroleum geologist Jim Halvorson of the Montana Board of Oil and Gas Conservation said Thursday.

The Bakken Formation encompasses some 25,000 square miles in North Dakota, Montana, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. The U.S. Geological Survey calls it the largest continuous oil accumulation it has ever assessed. (4)

]]>By: joedhttp://dissidentvoice.org/2008/05/from-kennedy-to-obama-liberalism%e2%80%99s-last-fling/#comment-21494
Sat, 31 May 2008 21:45:15 +0000http://www.dissidentvoice.org/?p=2100#comment-21494might as well enjoy bush/cheney and the present. like leonard cohen said, “I have seen the future and it is murder.” Obama is one of them.
too late now for your sacrifice to make things better. too late. the time for action is well past, you ain’t seen nuthin’ yet! nice going folks.
it is sad about the children, isn’t is!
]]>By: Don Hawkinshttp://dissidentvoice.org/2008/05/from-kennedy-to-obama-liberalism%e2%80%99s-last-fling/#comment-21487
Sat, 31 May 2008 19:07:08 +0000http://www.dissidentvoice.org/?p=2100#comment-21487You know it is amazing times. To me one of the most fascinating parts is because of the problems the times the good the bad and the ugly are much easer to spot.
]]>By: hphttp://dissidentvoice.org/2008/05/from-kennedy-to-obama-liberalism%e2%80%99s-last-fling/#comment-21484
Sat, 31 May 2008 17:12:37 +0000http://www.dissidentvoice.org/?p=2100#comment-21484“I asked the Captain what his name was,
and how come he didn’t drive a truck,
he said his name was Columbus,
I just said, “good luck.”
]]>By: Don Hawkinshttp://dissidentvoice.org/2008/05/from-kennedy-to-obama-liberalism%e2%80%99s-last-fling/#comment-21480
Sat, 31 May 2008 16:24:29 +0000http://www.dissidentvoice.org/?p=2100#comment-21480I have been watching the Democratic National Committee on c-span giving grand speeches and it is also important. In my last comment I said I don’t have the answer well a little Bob again could be a good start.
Come gather ’round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You’ll be drenched to the bone.
If your time to you
Is worth savin’
Then you better start swimmin’
Or you’ll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin’.

One more time
Come gather ’round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You’ll be drenched to the bone.
If your time to you
Is worth savin’
Then you better start swimmin’
Or you’ll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin’.

]]>By: Nicholas Moorehttp://dissidentvoice.org/2008/05/from-kennedy-to-obama-liberalism%e2%80%99s-last-fling/#comment-21475
Sat, 31 May 2008 15:29:51 +0000http://www.dissidentvoice.org/?p=2100#comment-21475John,
Thank you for the RFK perspective, which was new to me.

In Britain it was clearly a masterstroke to make a Tory (Tony Blair) the leader of the Labour party. It meant he could implement extensive corporatist policies with the support of the Tories. Labour were so thankful to be elected that they followed blindly.

There is now a massive momentum toward tyranny and fascism (the merging of state and corporate power) which is almost unstoppable. As I grew up in the shadow of the second world war, I would sometimes wondered how the Germans allowed Hitler and the Nazis to gain power.

Now I know. If you ask people today about war crimes in Iraq or torture in Guantanamo mostly they say ‘ … yes, but it is time to move on’ or ‘… I know but what can I do?’ or ‘ … I don’t have time to pay attention to that ‘.

That’s what they said in Nazi Germany.

]]>By: Don Hawkinshttp://dissidentvoice.org/2008/05/from-kennedy-to-obama-liberalism%e2%80%99s-last-fling/#comment-21468
Sat, 31 May 2008 14:24:14 +0000http://www.dissidentvoice.org/?p=2100#comment-21468I know I am talking about one thing and John is talking about another. Right now this very second the World produces 85 million barrels of oil a day and the demand is 86.4 million a day. Food is being make into fuel and we now see people going hungry more people going hungry. The push is still on to get the economy’s going and anybody have an idea on how that will work out? Those temperatures right now up North are not the beginning but the end of the beginning for climate change and you think crops are a bit of a problem now in one year then two years more of a problem. One man or women can not solve these problems we need to slow down until we can get some things in place and we need to use the knowledge we have now with the best minds we can find. Now is the time and how to get that started I don’t know?
]]>By: Don Hawkinshttp://dissidentvoice.org/2008/05/from-kennedy-to-obama-liberalism%e2%80%99s-last-fling/#comment-21466
Sat, 31 May 2008 13:49:56 +0000http://www.dissidentvoice.org/?p=2100#comment-21466John in just two years because of the changes in the climate on this planet many of the things we talk about now will be academic. Right now this very second the temperatures at the top of the Earth are 8 and 9 degrees above normal. That’s big and the changes from that have a little more to do than just Polar Bears
]]>By: Jerry D. Rosehttp://dissidentvoice.org/2008/05/from-kennedy-to-obama-liberalism%e2%80%99s-last-fling/#comment-21464
Sat, 31 May 2008 13:42:31 +0000http://www.dissidentvoice.org/?p=2100#comment-21464John Pilger speaks a truth that needs to be spoken—and more than that HEARD —by every fearful “progressive” in America who believes that voters this November will have no choice but to vote for Obama as the “lesser evil.” Actually he is probably the greater threat than McCain to any dim prospects for peace in the world. His ability to co-opt and placate the anti-war crowd is already seen in the inability of The Nation or Common Dreams or Democracy for America, among others, to raise a whisper of “evil” about either Obama’s hip-pocket relationship to Israel, his support of militarism and imperialism, and his financial backing by those not sympathetic to any kind of populist political agenda. The realization of this could be the open sesame for public consideration of “alternatives” to the two candidates of the corporate duopology, from which there will be a number of worthy bidders for public support.
]]>By: bozhidar balkashttp://dissidentvoice.org/2008/05/from-kennedy-to-obama-liberalism%e2%80%99s-last-fling/#comment-21463
Sat, 31 May 2008 13:39:28 +0000http://www.dissidentvoice.org/?p=2100#comment-21463i have not read what obama et al said or wrote. i have decided long ago not listen to clergy or politicians.
among politicos there are exceptions; such as nader, kucinic and maybe a few more.
all the others represent plutocrats. this is been going on for 2 centuries.
canada is also headed in that direction. plutocrats rule here as well; not in the same degree,tho.
plutocrats in US control cia, fbi, city police, armed services, and four houses: WH, house of reps, senate, and house of horrors(world) thank u.
]]>By: Don Hawkinshttp://dissidentvoice.org/2008/05/from-kennedy-to-obama-liberalism%e2%80%99s-last-fling/#comment-21462
Sat, 31 May 2008 13:38:10 +0000http://www.dissidentvoice.org/?p=2100#comment-21462If you go to James Hansen’s web site and read his last two posts dated May 29 to me it makes what we face very clear. In today’s World James is one of the people who is fighting back and is using the truth not twisted logic reason and doing it very well. For me because I am older I will not have to live in a ruined World but for my kids and there kids if we don’t act on this that is what they have to look forward to. To act on this and do what is needed is hard very hard but can be done. The time is now not for short term thinking because if that is the way it play’s out there will be no long term thinking. The time is now.
]]>By: InChicagohttp://dissidentvoice.org/2008/05/from-kennedy-to-obama-liberalism%e2%80%99s-last-fling/#comment-21461
Sat, 31 May 2008 13:28:18 +0000http://www.dissidentvoice.org/?p=2100#comment-21461Obama, like Bush, like McCain and so much like Hillary is an entrenched Washington insider (yes even like Bobby Kennedy, except for the fact that Obama is alive and Kennedy is not, which may not last considering Hillary may use any tactic to get the White House). Obama does not have chance in this election no matter what the pundits say. The following goes against him: history (based on primaries that last this long); Racists (not race); Reverend Wright; Hillary Clinton fanatics who are upset that the race was stolen; McCain who is a centrist, friends with Joe Lieberman, white and male; and his history in Illinois which is a corrupt cesspool of dirty politics.

The only way to save the US is vote 3rd Party. Vote libertarian, constituion or green party. Vote anything but republican or democrat. The US needs change, promised by Obama, who is just another democratic politician.